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Just posted about it on another thread - it's quiet, black and white, very domestic and portrays women's experiences (eg of childbirth) which don't often make it onto the big screen in that way. I liked all that. But it did feel a bit lacking in narrative drive, and the main character felt rather passive (mysterious?) at times. There's some interesting political background stuff going on too (and some weird martial arts).

I recall a "Siskel and Ebert" episode, where they presented movies specifically created for the drive-in crowd.

I couldn't finish watching past the first movie, which Siskel introduced as a movie that "definitely was a movie that hit its target audience, the drive-in crowd". Both then tore the movie apart because it was a movie made for the drive-in crowd!!

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I recall a "Siskel and Ebert" episode, where they presented movies specifically created for the drive-in crowd.

I couldn't finish watching past the first movie, which Siskel introduced as a movie that "definitely was a movie that hit its target audience, the drive-in crowd". Both then tore the movie apart because it was a movie made for the drive-in crowd!!

Siskel was not genre friendly , Ebert was. Tho Ebert . for instance, didn't like the 1982 Blade Runner for reasons I could not understand , 10 years later he totally changed his mind and wrote a favorable review. Ebert did this with several films but , as far as I know, only in print. Ebert was good a giving arguments for what was wrong but not always, tho he was willing to re-evaluate. I think I said I like Jay Cocks at Time magazine he was always right in explaining his evaluations.

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I, Daniel Blake (2016)
A great film. Thoroughly depressing and frustrating at times in how true-to-life the portrayal of the UK's state benefit system is. It's about two decent people who are trying to get by in life - one mother trying to feed her two children and a guy wanting to work again after a heart-attack. Those two leads were superb - who would've thought Dave Johns was only a stand-up comedian?

As @Foxbat said a few pages ago, "A masterful dissection of the true cost of the age of austerity that everybody should watch."

I think it's only the second Ken Loach film I've seen, and I'll be checking out more.

It's on BBC iPlayer for the next month, for anyone in the UK who is interested.

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Demetrius and the Gladiators (1954) Sequel to THE ROBE. So, D (Victor Mature), has the robe, which is scarlet, rather than white. Refusing to reveal its hiding place, his punishment is to become a Gladiator. Caligula (Jay Robinson; never heard of him before), wants the robe because he believes it is magic, & can even restore the dead to life.

Strabo (Ernest Borgnine) is the trainer, and Glycon (William Marshall; BLACULA; just love this guy's voice!) is one of the gladiators. But, as D is a Christian, he will not fight. That is, until he is disappointed by the apparent answer to his prayer.

His girlfriend entered the Gladiators' pre-Arena sex party, hoping to see him, but was carried away by another G. D prayed that God would save her from rape. She seemingly died. D went nuts, and ran into the arena, and killed several other Gs.

Eventually, D comes to his senses, and repents.

Cowboy from Brooklyn (1938) Dick Powell goes west to a dude ranch, and out-sings the real cowboy. Pat O'Brien is a talent scout who hears him, and seeing he is dressed as a cowboy, signs him up. Then, learning he is not one (which his Brooklyn accent & lack of rough tough appearance should have made obvious) must somehow pass him as one.

Snowed Under (1936) has a playwright desperately attempting to create a decent 3rd act, to go with the 1st 2, which were hailed as wonderful. But, his 1st 2 submissions for the 3rd act, were rejected. So now, he is secluded at an out of the way cottage, hoping the seclusion will be what he needs to write. But, then, everybody, including his 2 ex-wives, Orlando Rowe, a deputy (Frank McHugh) who is there to arrest him for failure to pay alimony, the lawyer of the offended ex, etc.

Very entertaining film!

Going Hollywood (1933)
Musical, with decent plot. My 2nd time watching it. The first was to see Ned Sparks, who was caricatured in a WB cartoon, where I 1st saw him. Guy supposedly never smiled.

Bing Crosby as the crooner, who is cast in a movie along with an irritable French woman Lili Yvonne (Fifi D'Orsay; never heard of her before), who quits the film when Sylvia Bruce (Marion Davies) mockingly mimics her. So, Ernest Pratt Baker, Picture Producer (Stuart Erwin) hires her in the French woman's place. Bert Conroy (Ned Sparks) the Director, is thus overruled by the financier.

I was over halfway through, before the Three Radio Rogues performed their mimicry of celebrities, which was apparently the only thing I remembered from the 1st time I saw this film.

Happy Easter!

Indiana Jones: How did you know she was a Nazi?
Professor Jones: She talks in her sleep.
Indiana Jones: It's disgraceful. You're old enough to be her... her grandfather!
Professor Jones: Well, I'm as human as the next man.
Indiana Jones: Dad! I... was... the next man!
Professor Jones: Oh, ships that pass in the night.

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Opening scene, a group of mimes arrives in the city on a truck (?) and then spread out doing their mime things.

Meantime, Hemmings plays a self-centered photographer putting together a book of photos brushes off would be groupies, bosses around models and generally acts self-satisfied and arrogant. While photographing randomly in a park, he picks out Redgrave and her lover for special attention. She tries to get the film from him, including finding his home and offering herself as payment. He tricks her, develops the film and finds he may have photographed a murder. He returns to the park and finds the corpse. He goes home, all of the pictures and the negative have been stolen.

At the park, the corpse has disappeared and as he wanders around the mimes appear and play mime tennis. The mime ball bounces over the fenced court and he retrieves it and mime-throws it back in play.

The End.

I think it’s about the limits of self-imposed meaning and importance in one’s life, and the buffeting one’s reality gets from circumstance and the doings of others, and how most of those doings are aimless and unconnected to what any of them really want. I think.

Visually beautiful, but if you’re one who requires a resolution of plot, not for you.

And now, for something completely different:

His Kind of Woman (1951) dir. John Farrow, Richard Fleischer (uncredited); starring Robert Mitchum, Jane Russell, Vincent Price, and several actors familiar to movie and TV watchers from the ‘50s into the ‘70s like Jim Backus, Paul Frees, Charles McGraw, Robert Cornthwaite.

Mitchum in his heyday as a bit down on his luck and so chosen by a mysterious person to go to an island and wait for instructions; in return, a big payoff of $10 grand. On his way there, he meets Russell and sparks ensue – not the only movie they made together because they definitely had chemistry. She’s going to the island to meet her married boyfriend, Price. Mitchum is as engaging as ever, Russell is better at the hard-boiled, noir-ish roles than I think she was ever given credit for, and Price pretty much steals the latter half of the movie as a hammy, past his prime movie star, the first time he had such a role, but not the last (see also, Theater of Blood, among others).

The backstory of this as presented by Eddie Mueller is even more interesting than the movie. This was only Russell’s second movie – apparently some later movies were released first, if IMDB is accurate. She was under contract to Howard Hughes who was picky about her roles. And he was the head of RKO, the studio this came out of. Hughes predated Elon Musk and Steve Jobs as eccentric and obsessive. Most movies at the time were shot in around 3 months, Price held a party to celebrate the first year of his being on set. First Hughes wasn’t happy with some details, later after Farrow handed in the final cut, Hughes wanted scenes Farrow refused to shoot so he Hughes extorted Fleischer – by holding up distribution of Fleisher’s The Narrow Margin – until Fleischer shot the scenes he wanted. In the course of all this, scenes with the main villain were shot three times because Hughes kept finding actors he thought were better for the role than the previous one. He finally settled on Raymond Burr and, honestly, Burr delivers a solid, threatening performance.

On the whole, a good, fun flick, but even better if you get a chance to hear Mueller’s intro.

The films ranged from 1911 to 1929. Some were only excerpts from otherwise lost films, one only two minutes long. Some were in very poor condition, so you can hardly tell what's going on. Others were full length features in decent shape. There were lots of short subjects as well. Everything from slapstick comedies to serials to melodramas to westerns to social dramas to documentaries to backwoods dramas to art films. Most notable among these many films were Where Are My Children? (1916), a drama promoting birth control and eugenics, mostly dealing with wealthy upper class women avoiding having children by undergoing multiple illegal abortions, and Salomé (1923) an arty version of Oscar Wilde's play featuring truly bizarre costumes and sets.

The Ants are my friends..

A Few Dollars for Django 1968- if you must watch a spaghetti western, just have to, then this could be worse. The dubbed voices are not terribly believable, but lots of sixgun and dynamite action make up for that. Ranchers vs. farmers, bounty hunters become sheriffs, you know the drill. After most everyone is killed there is a relatively happy ending, and the wild west is tamed on down yet agin, podners.

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I don't know if these count as films or not, they are made for TV not cinema.
But Christmas Day I spent about nine delightful hours watching Terry Pratchet's three classics back to back!
"The Colour Of Magic/The Light Fantastic" with David Jason playing Rincewind the Wizard followed by "Going Postal" then finally "Hogfather" with Death playing the main part "HO HO HO" , all very good!!!

Opening scene, a group of mimes arrives in the city on a truck (?) and then spread out doing their mime things.

Meantime, Hemmings plays a self-centered photographer putting together a book of photos brushes off would be groupies, bosses around models and generally acts self-satisfied and arrogant. While photographing randomly in a park, he picks out Redgrave and her lover for special attention. She tries to get the film from him, including finding his home and offering herself as payment. He tricks her, develops the film and finds he may have photographed a murder. He returns to the park and finds the corpse. He goes home, all of the pictures and the negative have been stolen.

I saw this several years ago, & just recently it occurred to me that with a 35mm film, there must be a limit to how much one can blow-up an image, before it becomes little more than a series of dots. I admit, I know very little about film, but I think I heard the term grains used in describing it. Furthermore, the focus might affect the blow-up of background images. Unless he used a tripod, blow-up would be a joke.

His Kind of Woman (1951) dir. John Farrow, Richard Fleischer (uncredited); starring Robert Mitchum, Jane Russell, Vincent Price, and several actors familiar to movie and TV watchers from the ‘50s into the ‘70s like Jim Backus, Paul Frees, Charles McGraw, Robert Cornthwaite.

Mitchum in his heyday as a bit down on his luck and so chosen by a mysterious person to go to an island and wait for instructions; in return, a big payoff of $10 grand. On his way there, he meets Russell and sparks ensue – not the only movie they made together because they definitely had chemistry. She’s going to the island to meet her married boyfriend, Price. Mitchum is as engaging as ever, Russell is better at the hard-boiled, noir-ish roles than I think she was ever given credit for, and Price pretty much steals the latter half of the movie as a hammy, past his prime movie star, the first time he had such a role, but not the last (see also, Theater of Blood, among others).

The backstory of this as presented by Eddie Mueller is even more interesting than the movie. This was only Russell’s second movie – apparently some later movies were released first, if IMDB is accurate. She was under contract to Howard Hughes who was picky about her roles. And he was the head of RKO, the studio this came out of. Hughes predated Elon Musk and Steve Jobs as eccentric and obsessive. Most movies at the time were shot in around 3 months, Price held a party to celebrate the first year of his being on set. First Hughes wasn’t happy with some details, later after Farrow handed in the final cut, Hughes wanted scenes Farrow refused to shoot so he Hughes extorted Fleischer – by holding up distribution of Fleisher’s The Narrow Margin – until Fleischer shot the scenes he wanted. In the course of all this, scenes with the main villain were shot three times because Hughes kept finding actors he thought were better for the role than the previous one. He finally settled on Raymond Burr and, honestly, Burr delivers a solid, threatening performance.

On the whole, a good, fun flick, but even better if you get a chance to hear Mueller’s intro.
Randy M.

That review really says it all. I also saw the NOIR ALLEY presentation of this film. Burr played it very nasty. Was going to kill RM, but wanted to watch his expression wen he knew it was coming.

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Hearts Divided (1936) another Dick Powell musical. This time, his is Napoleon's brother. Sent to the USA to sell Louisiana, he shuns the official duty, and hires on as a French language instructor for the daughter (whom he will marry) of a US official. But brother N (Claude Rains) wants him to marry for the sake of political alliances.

TCM will run pre-code gangster films 01/14 starting at about 6am I hope there is somebody discussing before & after.

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The Slave (1962) Steve Reeves as Spartacus' son. He, & an Italian supporting cast add some ZORRO elements to this, otherwise standard Sword & Sandal film. All that is missing is Eugene Pallette as the hero's gravel-voiced sidekick. Randus (Steve Reeves) is a Roman officer, newly promoted to Captain. So, he and a slave woman are washed ashore on some desert land, and are taken by slavers working for Crassus, the man who crucified S, & who hopes to overthrow Caesar. Randus wears an amulet since childhood that slaves recognize as the one that S's son wore as an infant. He leads the slaves in a revolt against their captors, and then the ZORRO elements, including an 'S' on walls that gives hope to the op[pressed and fear to the evil. But he is a Roman soldier, how can he lead a revolt? By wearing a Greek battle helmet, thus hiding his identity.

Vegetarian Werewolf

Pretty good adaptation of John D. MacDonald's Travis McGee novel of the same name. Rod Taylor is well cast as McGee. He's a self-described beach bum, who also finds things for people for 50% of the take. He can be funny, charming, and relaxed, but he can also put a stop to a fight with a sudden move and no nonsense. In this adventure, he and his buddy Meyer (Theodore Bikel nicely cast) witness a beautiful young woman (Suzy Kendall) thrown off a bridge with weights tied to her feet. Of course, they save her life, and the plot begins.

The bad guys make another attempt to kill her, and actually succeed! McGee sets out after the creeps in his own fashion, including hiring a look-alike actress to play the part of the dead woman to freak out her killer.

Although it looks like a made-for-TV movie, it's enjoyable for McGee fans. Little details from the books show up, such as McGee's Rolls Royce converted into a station wagon and named Miss Agnes. Nice scenes of Florida at the time. Taylor and main bad guy William Smith -- really creepy with deep tan, bleached blond hair, and no facial hair -- have one hell of a fight scene. The story goes that they got out of control during the filming and really went at each other for blood.

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Head (1968), the Monkees' movie. I kind of liked Abraham Sofaer, one of the Kyben in the Outer Limits episode "Demon with a Glass Hand," as the Maharishi. That's about one minute out of an hour and a half. But it was kind of fun to watch with the missus, who was a Monkees fan 52 years ago. Neither of us had seen it before.

It actually reminded me of the Patrick McGoohan series we both like, The Prisoner, in that the movie seems to be about the Monkees trying to escape from their image as "plastic" performers -- to the extent that it's about anything -- and at the end they are "prisoners" in an aquarium pulled by a truck, basically back where the movie started; rather as No. 6, the Prisoner, tried to escape from the Village, but kept ending up back there.

The Monkees being pulled away, in the aquarium, by a truck, reminded me of the scene in "Fall Out" (the final episode) with No. 6 and No. 2 and the Kid in the cage being pulled by a truck, occurring after one has watched a barrage of chaotic scenes. That episode is, in its way, the most self-consciously "Sixties" of the 17 episdoes, and hasn't worn too well. ....I would regret it if my remarks made any Prisoner fans feel they needed to see this movie!

Vegetarian Werewolf

Unusual Italian adaptation of a Mexican novel. A ladies' man is hired by an older woman to transcribe the diary of her late husband. Also living in the decaying, cluttered palace of the woman is her alluring daughter, and a man whose relationship with the others is complicated. It's impossible to say anything else about the plot without major spoilers. Let's just mention that it combines psychological drama, suspense, erotica, horror, surrealism, and art film. Takes place almost entirely inside the palace, and there's a lot of talk. But it's fascinating talk, even translated and dubbed, and there are a lot of visually striking sequences. Nothing more revealing than a woman's bare back is seen, but many scenes just reek with sexuality. Nice black-and-white cinematography.